Homeowner running an illegal bed-and-breakfast, Quincy alleges

QUINCY – City officials slapped a Squantum homeowner with a $1,000 fine Friday morning for allegedly running an illegal bed-and-breakfast out of his Bayside Road home.

After complaints from neighbors, a half-dozen officials from the city’s police, fire and inspectional services departments arrived unannounced at 85 Bayside Road just after 11 a.m. Friday to issue a fine to the homeowner, Richard Cope, for violating zoning and building codes.

Director of Inspectional Services Director Jay Duca said the $1,000 fine is due to a second-offense violation. Duca said the city issued Cope a $500 fine on July 17 for the first offense.

“It’s a use violation. They’re running a transient lodging facility in a residential district,” he said. “It’s also a building code violation for failing to change the occupancy.”

Change of occupancy refers to the use of land or buildings, rather than change of tenants or proprietors.

A resident home at the time would not allow officials to conduct an inspection of the building, Duca said. Officials could choose to seek an administrative search warrant for the home.

Duca posted a no-occupancy order on the front door, which he said applies only to transient visitors and not residents. It is illegal to remove the notice, and doing so would be another violation.

An advertisement on the lodging website Airbnb.com states that the home sleeps six guests and can be booked for two nights minimum at $150 per night.

A calendar on the website shows that 85 Bayside Road has been booked for 26 nights in August, 21 in September and nine in October. It was booked for Friday night as well.

“Each day the violation exists constitutes a separate violation,” Duca said. “It’s $1,000 for every time after, and once we’re sure they’re still violating the zoning and building codes, we’ll issue more violations.”

Duca said the homeowner indicated an intention to appeal, and he expects the city solicitor to get involved.

Cope and his medical software company, Boston Advanced Analytics, was featured in a business profile in The Patriot Ledger in May.

Cope purchased the home overlooking the Boston skyline last spring. According to assessors’ records, the home is valued at about $784,000.

In an email Friday, Cope said he and his fiancée, Susan Velentgas, have a passion for travel, and use the website to invite international families to stay with them. Cope said his fiancée called it a “scary day,” as she felt “a mob came to (their) house to give (them) a simple piece of paper for an undeserved fine.”

He said they currently have a family visiting from the Netherlands.

“We love the idea of giving them a reprieve from the catastrophic event that just happened in the Ukraine,” the email read.

Duca said illegal boarding is difficult to track, as homeowners can use sites such as airbnb.com to rent out space for a fee.